Chasing my Tail!

First off, we had a  major (no pun intended) moment in Cyrsti's Condo yesterday when Pat actually agreed with my comments on a post called The Toughest Trans Battle of Them All! The post centered on MtF transgender Army Captain Sage Fox in particular and spoke to the continuing tragedy of ruining trans lives one at a time in the United States military.  Which (as Pat wrote) Prez Obama  could fix with a stroke of his pen-but hasn't. I'm going to leave it at that, at the risk of getting too bitter and political. Plus, since Pat lives around the New York, East Coast area, she provided a little more insight into our Totally Transgender post and trans firefighter Brooke Guinan.  Please follow the links for her complete comments.

On a couple of lighter notes:  jen smithOctober 28, 2014 at 3:02 PM  commented:

Ooooh Cyrsti! You were quite the rebel-rousing, button pushing, devil may care one weren't you! Sounds like you had a heck of a good time!!!

Indeed I did Jen! Every morning, I take a moment and thank "Momma Karma" for enabling me to do all this living after so many years of darkness!

Finally, perhaps you have heard classic rocker Bob Seger is touring again at the age of 69.  I'm sure all of you have special groups and songs which have defined parts of  your life and Seger is one of mine.  I knew of him way back before he became "uber" popular because is is from the Lincoln Park, Michigan area and was rockin his arse off when I worked at one of the first "progressive rock" FM radio stations in Bowling Green, Ohio. (Not far from Toledo,  Michigan and Detroit.)  Our listeners also were fans of Iggy Pop and the Stooges from Ann Arbor, Michigan and any other Detroit "head bangin" rockers.  I credit those days to losing a good part of my hearing.  Another chunk went to watching the original Ozzy and Black Sabbath in Germany when I was in the Army.

At any rate, Segar seemed to stick with me through the years.  His "Hollywood Nights" song about a Midwestern boy being too far from home in L.A. became my "anthem" for a Midwestern boy in New York slipping too far away from his birth gender and of course "Running Against the Wind" which describes any transgender person searching for their true gender identity.

One of Segar's stops is going to be in nearby Columbus, Ohio in January.  Haven't given up on getting tickets!

I Didn't Have to Practice

I have two people in my life who have had a difficult time adjusting to who I am. Both from different perspectives.

One is from my distant cross dressing past and the other my deceased wife's sister.  I'm fairly sure I mention them too often here in Cyrsti's Condo.  So, to cut straight to my point, I'm about ready to cut ties with one (sister in law) and on occasion think I'm getting my point across to the other.

Here is the example.  He often sends me YouTube videos of mainly drag queen transformations and critiques them heavily.  Not a problem with that. If I have the time to watch them, I do too.  Today though, he sent me a fairly simple straight forward video involving an effeminate blond man.  I replied, I wish I had his skin and build to work with. He replied back "except the nose." I said wow! That was quite the catty comment, better pull in those claws.

What really got to me was he said "you must be practicing on your feminine responses."  I became more than a little frustrated and said "when will you learn, I'm way past the practice mode."  I just let my natural self come out and here she is. 

Ironically, the whole point fits in well into my Frock Magazine series about transitioning later in life. Indeed what have been my biggest surprises? One was when I found building a new circle of friends was easier to rebuild from scratch; than to babysit the few remaining ones I still had. Who for the most part refused to even consider I wasn't going through some sort of a late mid life gender crises.  (Like the two above.)

So no, I didn't have to practice much. My friends brought the real me out of me. I had it easy. Not having to practice per se' just was icing on the cake. I knew quickly I was doing the right thing.

The pleasant surprise was I didn't know I was getting it this right.

"Star Gazing" with Cyrsti

At my age it took me a while (as I have said) to shake off the effects of the weekend. When I did, I realized I had missed our weekly astrological sign travels Monday.  Better late than never though- so here we go with the Libras:

(September 23-October 22): Who you will want now and who is right for you will be hard to match up, as the two will seem at opposite ends, making you want to wipe the slate clean and start over. Of course, decisions like that can’t be made overnight, but as you feel the restless tossing and turning, redraw the lines of what you do find acceptable and make that your point now.

Can't say much about any of that except it is wrong in my case! I am always restless and toss and turn all the time mentally, but so does Liz so we match up.  I'm the first to admit our successful style of relationship is most likely to occur  in more mature individuals who have seen a lot and have some sort of idea of where they want to be at this stage of our lives. 

As I read the other signs this week, it seems I may need to find a Virgo to talk to! :
.
 (August 23-September 22): There will be uncommon vernacular spoken around you and a pretension that will be so thick; it’ll be hard to push your way through. Welcome to a new view, as changes of your social scene will be going down a more intellectual route. Not that you can’t keep up, but why you would want to. After all, what do you really feel you have to prove?

OK kids, that's it again for another week and can you believe the first days of November! As always if we didn't get to your sign, don't crawl under your bed and cry! Go here to theFrisky.

The Toughest Trans Battle of Them All?

I hope just because I am a US army transgender veteran, I should feel any more strongly than any other transgender American that the continuing discrimination against transgender military members isn't one of the most basic problems we have?

Shouldn't the people who fight for our freedoms, be allowed to enjoy them? Especially when other countries around the world allow trans people to serve? Even I though, get the argument from people around me women in the military are a bad idea all together. It seems they feel we genetic or transgender women are too emotional, or devoid of strength and may not possess the will to fight to the bitter end for our other troops. Really? I tell them to just did a little deeper into the history of our area in Ohio when the Shawnee's and whites used to clash over land which belonged to the Shawnee.  Sure some of the heavily Scotch Irish women were captured and abused but many were some of the most feared fighters the Shawnee faced when cornered.

Still, today, stories such as this keep happening-because they can: From the Washington Post:  Capt. Sage Fox had come to terms with the end of her military career when she said she got a stunning phone call. It was her commanding officer, telling her that despite the military’s ban on transgender service members, she would be welcome to return— as a female, her preferred gender.

So Fox, 41, (left) a U.S. Army Reserve officer who had served in the military for 14 years, returned to post in Sacramento as a new person. Her voice was higher with the help of vocal training and her features softer as a result of hormone therapy. She had grown out her hair. She got permission to use the female latrine and be addressed as “ma’am.”

But a short time later, her orders were reversed without explanation, and she was told not to come back, she said. Thousands of men and women serving in the U.S. military are in such caught in the gap between shifting cultural mores and military regulations that still require the immediate dismissal of any service member found to be transgender.

Actually, yet again transgender service members such as Captain Fox are just caught up in a government full of politicians and bureaucrats just interested in a short term status quo arrangement.  I might make a move, but not in an election year!

The "shell game" goes something like this: Defense Secretary Hagel said he would be open to a study.  (How many years? How much money?) At the same time (of course) The Pentagon has said nothing is going on with them. And in the meantime, a dozen or so transgender service members have been discharged over the past two years (according to various advocates).

For of this more story go here. My blood pressure is too high to keep writing!!!!!

Totally Transgender!

This says it all!

NYC Firefighter Brooke Guinan has been quietly raising the profile of LGBTQ folks and women in the FDNY for years. 

Now she's become a visible role model, taking part in V.O.I.C.E.'s new 'So Trans, So What?' campaign.

Go here to Advocate for more.

Perhaps, Brooke's publicity is even more relevant to the transgender community who can never hope to be the ultra glamorous trans role models as Carmen Carrera or Andreja Pejic.  

It's more a matter of "Hey! I can do that too!" I don't have to be a fashion model to transition!

Gender Fluid Weekend

I had some sort of idea of how the weekend was going to play out gender wise, and I wasn't disappointed. Liz and I headed over to Columbus relatively early and had a chance to check in our hotel in time to relax before the evening really got started.  We have stayed at the same place a couple times for TGLBQ Pride and the Trans Ohio Symposium, so the process was fairly easy-even though my girl self was checking in and my guy self was paying. (As he should!) The front desk peeps only care though if the credit card doesn't go through. They rarely ever even look up to see my beautiful self. (kidding)

That evening, as "Madame La'Noe" began to appear, she turned out to be the rather androgynous scary person I thought she might be.

We hit the street party and I had no idea why most of the peeps were steering clear of me? (Ha!) Of course, that was no fun so I went looking for interaction. And, found it in a couple spots where I knew I would get feed back- the men's rooms in a couple of gay venues we were in. I think you all know I try to keep Cyrsti's Condo PG rated, so I'm am going to try to explain what I said to them, without going too far.  The first had something do with commenting on "The Madam's" crystal balls around her neck (You can see them in the picture to the left of the rubber chicken.) And a little gold snake I had curled around one hand and wrist, which you can't see in the picture. You can guess about any of the "ball" comments and I just asked if any of the guys were snake lovers and did they want to pet mine?

If you know anything about gay guys, they are not shy about sex talk and leaving them pretty much speechless for a minute or so was rare and I can't tell you what they did say!

As Saturday rolled around, we tried to recover from Friday night, which was a great idea- until we went out to watch the Ohio State/Penn State football game.  Because she said she would, Cyrsti became "The Madam" for part of the evening and we visited a couple of my regular Dayton spots where we could watch the game- for another one of those "shouldn't have" moments! Oh well!

Remember, we weren't even to Sunday yet and when it got here,  I had a very good idea of why I was too damn old to party two nights in a row!  Not be be denied of another beautiful day, Liz and I went to a local park.  Just to keep it interesting for the "after church" crowd in the smaller town I live in, I decided to go with a "go to hell" androgynous look. Could I have possibly still been buzzed?  My go to hell outfit consisted  of men's tennis shoes, women's jeans, unisex sweat shirt top, light foundation, haired pulled back-and bright red nail polish left on from the two nights before. Naturally, I had quite the reaction from the elderly ladies sitting in their Cadillac's watching me pump my gas. I figured after spending their time and money getting smoked by a mean preacher at church, they needed a break!

As much fun as it all was though, I figure it will take me until about Wednesday to recover, when it's beer and music night with Kim and Racquel!

It's time for my nap now!

Cyrsti's Condo "Quote of the Day"

Cyrsti's Condo "Sunday Edition"

"Ker Plunk!" It's time for another Sunday Edtion here in the Condo hitting your virtual front porch.  It's yet another beautiful fall morning here in Ohio

Page 1.- The Week That Was-or Wasn't. As I have written, for all intents and purposes, my Halloween for this year has come and gone.  While there are a few "activities" all next week, I'm not so sure if I could survive attending!  As promised there are a few "glimpses" into my escort "Ziggy" and I's attire at the Columbus, Ohio "Highball" Halloween bash Friday night: Including this very "ghostly one!

Page 2.- Another Way to Come Out?  Don sent this story in from "Yahoo Parenting" and the Tampa Bay Times:  Mass emails and robocalls to parents are usually about school closings or conferences, but on Thursday, J.W. Mitchell High School principal Jim Michaels had a different sort of announcement: Robert Konrad, a social studies teacher at the Pasco County, Florida, school, was beginning a gender transition. “Mr. Konrad has begun the process of gender transition and is anticipating presenting as a female no later than August of 2015,” he wrote in an email, according to the Tampa Bay Times. “As you can imagine, this is a very private decision, but Mr. Konrad has indicated that he will respond to appropriate questions you may have about the transition process.” Definately not old school!

Page 3.- Time Marches On.  Last week we briefly touched on the subject of 14 year old transgender teen Jazz Jennings being named  to the "Time Magazine" list of the top 25 most influential teens.  On the other end of the time spectrum, I read a story recently I didn't know at all, or forgot. (maybe?) From the Own Network: 

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Even today, there are a lot of theories surrounding Teddy Pendergrass’ car accident. All we really know was that the singer was riding with a transgender woman and was subsequently paralyzed from the accident. The people at OWN, tracked down Tenika Watson (left) , the woman who was riding with Pendergrass the day his life changed forever, told OWN’s cameras, “I never really got a chance to tell my side of things and it was important to me. Very important to me.” -

Follow the link for more!

The Back Page!  I have finished my first cup of "Joe" and it's time to get "Ziggy" (Liz) and crew moving to get out and enjoy this day!  Wherever you may be, I hope you can too!

Sipping a "High Ball" in Columbus

Yes there will be pictures of us, so don't panic if you don't see them in this post.  My fun started when I just got to sit back and be "the talent" and watch my character- Madame La'Noe come to life. Perhaps even better was, when I saw what Liz put together for herself. "He" was to be the Madam's personal escort dressed in suit, tie, fedora, suspenders and of course a parasol for the Madam in case of sprinkles.  And, oh yes, a handle bar mustache.  You could have knocked me over with the feather from her Fedora.  (sample on left) That's it for now!  More to come!

A "High Ball" is a drink.  Or...it is the name of the two day Halloween Party in Columbus, Ohio

Liz and I were active participants last night and probably I will have about four blog posts relating all of it . In the mean time, just to teeeeeese you just a bit-Columbus is an incredibly diverse city with a huge university (Ohio State), government (state capital) and a large GLBTQ  population.  Just the right ingredients for a potent tasty "High Ball.!"